Thailand in 2022: The Decline and Resilience of Thailand's Conservative Establishment

Thailand's military-aligned government saw its popularity plummet in polls throughout 2022. Yet former head of the armed forces and current prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha was resilient in the face of mass party defections, a falling-out with his fellow party leader and long-time friend Prawit Wongsuwon, a censure debate, and even a constitutional court case threatening to remove him from office. The mass street protests that were a constant feature of the previous three years evaporated as conservative forces used the controversial Section 112 Royal Defamation Law to silence the various movements' leaders. Political attention was focused on the impending elections, which shook up the party system with rampant party mergers and switching. Meanwhile a return to the 2011 electoral rules fueled talk of another Pheu Thai landslide in the next elections. The economy began to improve with the relaxing of COVID rules and the return of tourism, throwing a lifeline to a rapidly sinking Prayut, who himself switched to a new political party before the year's end.

The constitutional legitimacy of the legal framework responding to covid-19 into question: An annotated chronology in the light of constitutional case law

The aim of this paper is to study the legal framework designed to respond to covid-19 in Spain, assessing its constitutional adequacy according to the Constitutional Court case law. In particular, the paper will consider Judgements of the Spanish Constitutional Court 148/2021 of 14 July, 183/2021 of 27 October and 70/2022 of 2 June, which have questioned some of the key decisions regarding the legal design of the response to the pandemic: the lockdown of the population in the first state of alarm;the enabling nature and excessive extension of the third state of alarm;and the judicial authorisation of health measures adopted in accordance with public health legislation. In conclusion, learning from the experience of the pandemic and the doctrine established by the Constitutional Court, some concrete proposals will be put forward for the revision of current legislation, especially the Organic Law on exceptional states. © 2022, Centro Estudios Politicos Constitucionales. All rights reserved.

The regulatory management of the Covid-19 emergency Reconstructive guidelines in the light of constitutional and administrative jurisprudence

The work intends to analyze the jurisprudential contribution offered by the main national courts with respect to the covid-19 emergency regulatory system, verifying its impact on the definition of the main legal issues related to the system itself;in this way, it will be possible to clarify, at least as a first approximation, whether the application phase represented a factor or the consequence of the complexity and dynamism characteristics of this particular regulation model. © 2022 Societa Editrice il Mulino. All rights reserved.

Religious freedom during the coronavirus pandemic: An assessment of the Polish legal solutions

The threat posed by the spread of coronavirus in Poland resulted in the introduction of the state of epidemic emergency for the whole country in March 2020, subsequently followed by the state of epidemic. The competent state authorities have introduced numerous limitations on individual human rights and freedoms, including limitations on the freedom to manifest religion. The Polish legislator laid down the principles for permissible limitations on this freedom in Articles 31(3) and 53(5) of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. In accordance with the constitutional provisions, such limitations may only be introduced by statutory acts and in situations when they are necessary in a democratic society for the protection of specially protected goods. They must be proportionate so as not to impair the very essence of the right being limited. The introduced limitations on participating in and performing religious worship raise doubts as to their legality and constitutionality. The epidemic threat justifies taking action by competent state authorities to ensure safety. However, state authorities should act on the basis and within the limits of the law. The constitutional provisions do not leave any room for discretion as regards the possibility of introducing limitations on human rights and freedoms, including the right to freedom of religion. © 2021, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. All rights reserved.

The role of the State and the Regions in managing Covid-19 emergency

The article analyzes the respective roles of the State and Regions and their relations in the adoption of measures to deal with the pandemic emergency. In particular, the article highlights how the State, in order to contain the pandemic, has adopted, through the so-called emergency legislation, a centralization of competencies without the provision of adequate collaboration tools with the Regions. It is therefore observed how this legislation, in addition to being in conflict with the model of cooperative regionalism outlined by the 2001 reform, has often led, especially in the first phase of the health crisis, to episodes of conflict between State and Regional bodies. The article also notes that these conflicts were partially overcome, subsequently, thanks to the Government’s willingness to recognize a greater monitoring and intervention role to the Regions, on the one hand, and to coordinate with them, on the other hand;coordination aimed at adopting shared solutions (as for the decisions relating to the vaccination campaign and the green pass). Furthermore, the decision n. 37 of 2021 of Constitutional Court, by recognizing the exclusive State competence to adopt measures to combat the pandemic, opens a new phase in the definition of the roles of the levels of government and respect to their relations. The article, therefore, aims to analyze the trends related to relations between the State and the Regions that emerged during the pandemic emergency;this mainly in order to evaluate the appropriateness of some choices with respect to the constitutional model of the Regional State. © 2022, Societa Editoriale Federalismi s.r.l.. All rights reserved.

THE MATERIAL CORE OF THE SLOVAK CONSTITUTION AND ITS PERSPECTIVES

The aim of the Article is to clarify, if the Slovak constitutional system contains constitution based on material core. Were there any important changes dealing with this constitutional concept? The purpose of this paper is to offer an answer to the questions by outlining a short overview of constitutional development especially in the field of discovering the material core of the Constitution of the Slovak Republic and its turbulent development. One of the used perspectives is a COVID 19 crisis perspective and its influence upon material core of constitution. © 2022, Goce Delchev University of Shtip. All rights reserved.

religious freedom in times of covid-19 pandemic. the situation in germany

After a look at the constitutional framework and the options for action under the (German) Protection against Infection Act, the paper analyses the measures taken by the State and Church authorities to contain the corona pandemic in terms of their impact on religious freedom. Three decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court which emphasised the high value of religious freedom deserve special attention. In a further perspective, the reactions to the challenge of the pandemic illuminate which is (already) the relevance of religion and its free practice in a secularised society. © 2022 Pensiero Economico Italiano. All rights reserved.

The reaction of the Italian Constitutional Court to the “rebellious” region in judgement 37/2021: New unknowns for the future of powers between the State and regions

The article aims to present in detail a recent and peculiar Italian case concerning the approval of the law of the Valle d’Aosta region n. 11, December, 2020, with which that region tried to bypass the State powers to manage the pandemic caused by Covid-19 and provide its citizens with alternative regulations. In particular, in addition to the contents of the regional law and the context in which it was inserted, this paper aims to analyse the reaction of the Constitutional Court to the State recourse to Law 11/2020. In addition to causing the first precautionary suspension of a regional law in the history of the Republic, the contents of this recent decision of the Constitutional Court have been recognised as transcendent by the doctrine, and extend far beyond the specific case, to serve even as a field of study and inquiry for other regional systems. © 2022 Academy of Medical Sciences of I.R. Iran. All rights reserved.

Comments on the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic on copyright

This paper focuses on the analysis of the application of the principles and provisions of constitutional law to the area of copyright in selected case law of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic and confirms their general importance, which manifested itself in the problems of legislation and case law during the Covid-19 pandemic. The starting point is to identify the principles and individual provisions of the constitutional law of the Czech Republic applicable to the protection of intangible objects of copyright, in particular the provisions of Art. 34, (1) Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms of the Czech Republic on the protection of the results of creative intellectual activity. The aim is to find out how the Constitutional Court resolves conflicts between individual constitutional rights when they are infringed. Further goal is to consider the concept of constitutional protection of this field in the Czech Republic to compare with the concept of constitutional EU law and with international law. This will be done using the method of analysis and legal comparison.

Human Rights and Religious Freedoms During the Covid-19 Pandemic in Kosovo

This article studies the Kosovo Government decision to restrict freedom of movement vis-á-vis freedom of gathering during the Covid-19 pandemic, a restriction which has directly affected religious freedoms and practices across multiple religions. The article also addresses the decision of the Constitutional Court, which ruled that the Government’s decision was unconstitutional. The article reflects on and contextualizes the behaviors of different religious communities in Kosovo, in light of these religious restrictions in the age of Covid-19.

The End of Satellite Treaty Law as We Know It? The German Federal Constitutional Court, European Integration by International Law and Treaties “Supplementing or Being Otherwise Closely Tied to the EU”

Amidst the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the German Federal Constitutional Court rendered a little-noticed, but potentially far-reaching decision regarding European integration. When it declared the law ratifying the Unitary Patent Court Agreement unconstitutional, it did so because it is a treaty “supplementing or being otherwise closely tied to the EU”, in other words, a satellite treaty, inter-se agreement, or more generally: an international law agreement furthering European integration outside the EU law framework. This commonly used integration technique is therefore going to be a lot more difficult in future whenever Germany is involved. At the same time, the court order gives all German citizens a far-reaching right to have laws ratifying such treaties checked before the Constitutional Court, which is a significant extension compared to its earlier case-law. In future cases of disagreement, EU Member States may have to find different ways to proceed than resorting to international law, such as using the enhanced cooperation mechanism.

POLITICAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL APPROACH TOWARD COVID 19: THE CASES OF KOSOVO AND CROATIA

This paper analyzes the political and constitutional confrontation of Kosovo and Croatia with the COVID-19 pandemic. The similarities of the constitutional provisions governing emergency situations and possible restrictions on human freedoms and rights in both countries, alongside hybrid parliamentary .systems with strong presidents, have produced the same approaches, respectively similar in political and constitutional terms as well as in the academic and professional aspect. Therefore. this paper is focused more on government responses to the situation, including divergences between presidents and governments, as well as constitutional court approaches and respective academic opinions on the subject axis: extraordinary measures within the ordinary or extraordinary legal order with a formal declaration of a "State of Emergency". Both countries set out for the first model, contenting themselves with amending legal frameworks without a formal declaration of a state of emergency. How and why, it happened is explained in the second and third parts of the paper, resulting in conclusions and recommendations.

The Decreto de Alarma: Hierarchical status and constitutional review

In two articles I wrote in 1989 and 1990 I sustained that either the Decreto Gubernamental del Estado de Alarma {state of alarm pronouncement} or the Parliamentary authorization for its extension had the status of norma reglamentaria {regulatory standard}, and the general jurisdiction was able to review their lawfulness. After twenty years, Section 116 of the Spanish Constitution and the Ley Organica 4/1981 regarding the COVID-19 pandemic have changed my mind. My concern is serious because I do not agree with the majority doctrine nor with the very Tribunal Constitutional. The Tribunal Constitutional judgements {Spanish Constitutional Court} (SSTC 83/2016, April 28th;148/2021, July 14th) maintain that the Reales Decretos have force of law and, as a result, their review lie exclusively in the Tribunal in question. These Reales Decretos make up a “system of legal sources” that shifts general jurisdiction temporarily. The majority doctrine as well, whose main specialist if Professor Carlos Garrido Lopez, joins this tendence and affirms that the Reales Decretos are primary constitutional actions, subordinated to the Constitution, and update an exceptional situation, therefore, its force of law is independent of that of the Congreso de los Diputados {Spanish Congress}. Well then, I have changed my 1990 mind, and nowadays I think the nature of the decreto de declaración del estado de alarma is that of a disposición reglamentaria {regulation} whose control lies in the general jurisdiction. On the contrary, the decreto de prórroga {decree of extension} (as long as it needs the Congreso de los Diputados authorization) has force of law ex Section 27.2.b. LOTC (Ley Orgánica del Tribunal Constitutional} and, therefore, is subject to the Tribunal Constitucional review. The main reason for that is the separation of powers doctrine. A rule cannot rank with a statute without the intervention of the Legislative Power. Apart from that, the fact that this construction better answers the ratio legis of Section 116 of the Spanish Constitution;and the proportionallity between the event that altered the so-called normality and the steps and responsabilities that are in the office of the Government and the Parliament. © 2020. All Rights Reserved.